Portulaca plant named ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’

ABSTRACT

Portulaca ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ is a new variety of  Portulaca oleracea.  This plant has a vigorous, spreading plant growth which produces large, dark pink flowers having a dark red center.

BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PLANT

This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Portulacaplant, hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’.Portulaca ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ is a new variety of Portulaca oleracea.The plant has a vigorous spreading growth habit and can be used as agroundcover. It can also be used in a potted or hanging basketpresentation. The invention's flowers are dark pink (RHS 45B) with adark red (RHS 46A) center. The flowers are single and measure 5.8 to 6.4centimeters in diameter when fully open. There are five distinct petalswith an indent at the tip of each petal. Portulaca flowers willtypically close under low light and low temperature conditions such aslate in the day and at night. ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ Portulaca flowerswill stay open later into the evening than most other cultivatedvarieties. The plant performs well in hot and dry climates. The plant isvery resistant to rain, heat and drought.

ORIGIN AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION

The new cultivar is propagated asexually from vegetative cuttings. Theasexual reproduction establishes that the plant does in fact maintainthe characteristics described in successive generations. ‘Summer JoyWine Red’ has been reproduced by stem cuttings in Salinas, Calif., andall of the characteristics thereof have been determined to be firmlyfixed.

‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ originated from a hybridization made by theinventor Hiromi Matsukizono in Japan. The female parent is a commercialvariety known as ‘Yubi® Apricot’, an unpatented variety of Portulaca andthe male parent was a commercial variety known as ‘Yubi® Red’, anunpatented variety of Portulaca. The initial cross-pollination of theparents, resulting in F₁ generation seed, was made in June, 1992. InFebruary, 1993, the F₁ seed was sown. From these plants, six plants wereselected for appealing flower color. In June through September of 1993the six selected plant lines were vegetatively propagated and tested foreasy reproducibility and stability of traits. One of these six plantlines was hence selected for dark pink flower color, large flower sizeand easy propagation. In February, 1997, cuttings of this plant linewere sent to California. During the spring and summer of 1997 and 1998,plants were grown under the direction and supervision of the inventorfor evaluation of the stability of the line's desired traits. Plantswere evaluated in greenhouse pots at the research station at Salinas,Calif., and at the breeding station in Kakegawa, Japan. The invention,‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ Portulaca, was determined by the inventor to haveits characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed.

BREIF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings serve by color photographic means toillustrate the new plant variety, ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’. The colors arerepresented as true as possible using conventional photographicprocedures.

FIG. 1 is a close-up view of a ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ flower illustratingits color and shape.

FIG. 2 is a view of the new cultivar after growing in a greenhouse for 8to 10 weeks in a six-inch diameter pot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

The following description is based on observations and measurements from14-16 week old plants grown in six-inch pots at Salinas, Calif. Theseplants were grown in plastic pots containing a peat moss-based medium.The plants were grown in the greenhouse under full sunlight in Salinas,Calif. Night temperatures ranged from 16° C. to 21° C. and daytemperatures ranged from 24° C. to 35° C. The soil was not allowed tostay saturated but the plants were irrigated when the soil began to dry,or every second or third day. Soluble fertilizer was applied through anoverhead irrigation system. The fertilizer contained 18% nitrogen, 8%phosphorus and 18% potassium. Every fourth irrigation was done withnon-fertilizer water. Color designations were made according to TheRoyal Horticultural Society Colour Chart published by The RoyalHorticultural Society of London, England.

Origin: Japan.

Parentage:

Female parent.—Yubi® Apricot (not patented).

Male parent.—Yubi® Red (not patented).

Classification:

Family.—Portulacaceae.

Genus.—Portulaca.

Species.—Oleracea.

Commercial.—Portulaca/Purslane ‘Summer Joy Wine Red’.

Plant:

Growth habit.—Prostrate.

Plant height.—7 cm.

Spreading area of plant.—60-80 cm (in a six-inch pot).

Vigor.—The plant is most vigorous at high temperatures.

Time to initiate/develop roots.—Vegetative cuttings root in 7-10 daysafter placing into a rooting medium such as a peat moss-based mixture.The cuttings will form roots without the use of overhead mist.

Stem:

Thickness.—2.1 mm.

Color.—Yellowish green (144B) with red-purple RHS 60A anthocyaninpigment present in the axial portion of the stem.

Pubescence.—Present only at the nodes.

Branching.—Abundant.

Length of internode.—10-20 mm.

Leaf:

Shape.—Oblanceolate with cuspidate tip in mature leaves and acute tipsin younger leaves near the apex of the stem.

Length (average).—2.7 cm.

Width (average).—1.5 cm.

Thickness.—1.4 mm.

Color.—Upper leaf surface is green RHS 143A and the lower surface isgreen (143C) with red-purple (60A) anthocyanin pigment present at theedge.

Pubescence.—None.

Texture.—Leaf surface is smooth, shiny and wax-like. Leaves are thickand fleshy.

Flower:

Shape.—Five distinct petals with an indent at tip of petal.

Petal shape.—Heart-shaped with a square base; approximately 2.0×2.2 cm.

Lobation.—None.

Diameter.—5.8-6.4 cm when fully opened.

Color.—Unopened stage (the development stage at which the petals haveelongated from the sepals but not yet fully extended and opened): Darkpink (46A); Mature stage: Upper petals are dark pink (45B) fading todark pink (45D) to a center color of dark pink (46A); lower petals aredark pink (45B) with streaks of yellow-orange (23B) near the base of thepetal.

Bud.—Lanceolate shaped; mature bud measures 1.6 cm in length and 0.7 cmin diameter; color is yellow-green (145A).

Sepal.—Two sepals, deltoid shaped; measures 1 cm in length and 0.9 cm inwidth; sepals are thin, paper-like, smooth and shiny; color istransparent with green venation.

Habit.—The flowers bloom during midmorning and close at night. Eachflower blooms only once and are produced throughout the growing season.The plants produce flowers regardless of day length; the plants are dayneutral. Plants can have 40 to 50 open flowers at one time and have nofragrance.

Season of bloom.—In zone 9 and similar locations this plant will flowerthroughout the entire year. Growth is less vigorous during the cooltemperatures and short days of winter, but the plant will continue tobloom.

Hardiness.—Plant is heat tolerant; thrives in heat and humidity; plantis not cold tolerant or below 7° C.

Reproductive organs.—One red (42A) pistil with five narrow stylebranches and many red (42A) and yellow-green (154C) stamen withorange-yellow anthers and yellow filaments; pollen color is orange(26A); flowers do not produce seed.

Disease and Insect Resistance

No unusual susceptibility to diseases or insects have been observed.

Comparision with Other Known Varieties

The new variety is distinguished from other Portulaca plants known toinventor by its flower color, larger flower size and ability to stayopen later into the evening. The closet commercial cultivar that we areaware of is the Portulaca plant named ‘Yubi® Red’ (an unpatentedvariety). The distinguishing characeristics, which differentiate ‘SummerJoy Wine Red’ from ‘Yubi® Red’, are:

‘Summer Joy Wine Red’ ‘Yubi ® Red’ Flower Diameter 5.8-6.4 cm 4.0-4.5 cmFlower Color Dark pink Deep purplish red with dark red center withyellow center Flower Closing Open longer in evening Closes earlierBehavior in afternoon

